The New York Daily News reports Jay-Z honored by the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding and admitted that he was taken off-guard when he was told of the award by Def Jam founder Russell Simmons, who helps run the foundation with Rabbi Marc Schneier. “I grew up in Brooklyn at the height of the tension between blacks and Jews there,” said Jay. “I was like, ‘What do I know about black and Jewish relations?’ But then I looked around me at my friends and business associates like [Island Def Jam honchos] Julie Greenwald and Lyor Cohen, [and] they are my friends.”